Octopus Overlords

Buatha wrote:I have a vanilla PS4, so does this game still run and look fine? Do I have to turn off some bells and whistles for 1080P or is it only impactful if you're trying 4K (don't have a 4K TV).

It's one of the best looking games I've seen on the vanilla PS4 and it runs smoothly.

Faced my first Stalker last night. That was...rough.

Still, it was a memorable fight and I look forward to more like it.

It's funny how your perspective changes as you meet the bigger, badder beasts. I melee stalkers because it's more fun.

Finished it yesterday morning. Excellent from start to finish.

Spent an hour stalking and killing a pack of Bellowbacks with the help of a couple of sawtooth I converted to my side. So much fun. But those damn glinthawks can eat it.

hepcat wrote:Spent an hour stalking and killing a pack of Bellowbacks with the help of a couple of sawtooth I converted to my side. So much fun. But those damn glinthawks can eat it.

Glinthawks never managed to be intimidating in my game. They are so extremely vulnerable to their weakness that their entire challenge consists of whether or not you can hit them, and with slow-mo even that isn't a problem. Stormbirds though...

But they loot steal when I'm taking down multiple machines and can't get to a downed one before they do.

Yeah kill it with fire... now their big brother... jeesus mother I hate those things. Stormhawk maybe? All the health of a thunderjaw, but freaking flying.

After all the mediocre feedback for the new Mass Effect, I'm going to use my pre-order $$ to get this instead. It'll be an interesting experiment, as I don't usually enjoy open world games all that much. I tend to get a bit overwhelmed when there are a million things to do. I'm also not very good with console shooters, which could prove to be challenging here.

All that said, the feedback on this game is so good that I need to give it a look. We'll see how it goes.

I feel your pain Skinypupy, as I'm sort of the same way with open world games. But I'd argue that in this game, there's really no "best" order to do anything so the choice becomes less overwhelming. Just pick something in your list and do it, secure in the knowledge that no decision is a bad decision.

As pointed out earlier, even the quest levels don't really mean all that much - while I wouldn't attempt a quest way over my head, quests well below your level can still be very challenging.

I've literally jumped from one end of the map to the other willy-nilly, doing a hunting camp here or a bandit camp there, with no real regard to level or progression, and I've never had any issues getting stuck or in over my head.

Yeah, I'm about level 21 now and last night I took on a level 12 quest...and found it quite challenging. The makers of this game really need to get hold of Bethesda and show them how to handle difficulty levels in a game.

p.s. I recommend starting on Hard, by the way. It feels just right.

hepcat wrote:p.s. I recommend starting on Hard, by the way. It feels just right.

[u]really [/u]awful at console shooters skinypupy wrote:I'm also not very good with console shooters, which could prove to be challenging here.

My default is always Easy, and I will very occasionally adjust up from there. Nothing will get me to quit a game quicker than it feeling overly difficult.

You can change the difficulty at any time and it has no impact on trophies so do whatever feels fun.

coopasonic wrote:You can change the difficulty at any time and it has no impact on trophies so do whatever feels fun.

I think I'll be doing that for my final Cauldron boss fight. Can't seem to defeat that Thunderjaw, always getting frustratingly close.

It was a bitch. I started out by littering the floor with tripwires, then tearing off all his projectile attack components, then constantly setting him on fire and bombarding him with sticky bombs while constantly rolling.

That fight took me more tries than the final battle.

coopasonic wrote:It was a bitch. I started out by littering the floor with tripwires, then tearing off all his projectile attack components, then constantly setting him on fire and bombarding him with sticky bombs while constantly rolling.

That fight took me more tries than the final battle.

I used to litter the area with traps and tripwires but got nowhere. I had better success with tying it down with the ropecaster and wailing away at it but died eventually. I had given up laying traps and wires because it just got tedious doing it every time but I think I need to throw the kitchen sink at it including the traps and wires. As Rost taught, "Patience".

Easy way to take away the majority of a thunderjaw's health quickly:

after having this demoed for me, i briefly considered 'what if i purchased a PS4 for this game...' but... not going to happen.

I guess because its new Im not seeing a good sale price. Still saving but would like to start seeing some low prices. Too popular too.

I see Uncharted 4 can be had for $20.

(crossposted from GT)

Picked it up last night and got 2 hours in. I'm completely blown away so far. I mean, just...wow. Story and characters completely hooked me from the get-go. I love Aloy as a main character, and am really interested to see what they do with the world. My only minor gripe is sometimes not being able to tell when a monster is lurking around. Especially when it spots me from what seems to be about 500 yards away. I apparently need to make better use of the Focus skill.

I'm a little worried it's going to get way too difficult for me (I'm seriously SO bad at aiming on consoles, even with the slow-down skill), but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I'm somewhat amazed.

Grab some stealth armor and don't forget to check out the hud at the top of your display. It will often show you the locations of beast gatherings. But at the end of the day, you gotta pay attention to your surroundings. I'm level 23 now and I still can get mowed over by a pack of watchers.

I just hit 39 and have all my favorite weapons upgraded to Shadow versions. One thing I love about the game is how versatile the combat makes you. I was hunting Sawtooths in order to get a heart for the last weapon I wanted to buy, and had traveled all the way out to a Sawtooth site only to realize I had no wire. No wire means my Tripblaster (my primary hunting tool for big game) was worthless. Even worse, it meant my high damage precision arrows couldn't be crafted.

Wound up using my Tearblasters to weaken them and then pumped them full of fire arrows from my war bow while rolling around like a madman. Not only was it equally effective, it actually made the fight much more fun as I had to think fast and use what was at my disposal. As Aloy says from time to time, "I have other ammo." Damn straight!

I'm still taking this one very casually - I generally only get an hour or so session at a time, so I just pick something and go with it. Sometimes that may mean progressing the storyline, other times it may mean spending half an hour hunting foxes for skins. I have no clue how far I am into the game, but I do know my main storyline quests are still in the low 20s.

YellowKing wrote:I have no clue how far I am into the game, but I do know my main storyline quests are still in the low 20s.

I don't think the quest levels ever go beyond the 20s, there are corruption zones in the 30s. The level cap for the game is 50. Depending on how you approach the game you will likely get all the skills before then. The point is, the level of the quests doesn't mean a hell of a lot.

YellowKing wrote: Wound up using my Tearblasters to weaken them and then pumped them full of fire arrows from my war bow while rolling around like a madman. Not only was it equally effective, it actually made the fight much more fun as I had to think fast and use what was at my disposal. As Aloy says from time to time, "I have other ammo." Damn straight!

I've finally started using Tear arrows. I didn't really think they were all that great at first, but only because I didn't freakin' read about them in the notebook. Now I start every battle by targeting a beast's weapons systems with Tear arrows. It adds a layer to combat that I love.

I hope they add Witcher 3 level DLC to this game in the future. I'd love new lands and new stories.

...and as TiLT mentioned earlier, some of those machine weapons you can pick up and use against the machines. The highest level training ground pushes this strategy if you hadn't figured it out by then.

hepcat wrote:I hope they add Witcher 3 level DLC to this game in the future. I'd love new lands and new stories.

They've already said that they're working on story DLC, so it's looking promising.

TiLT wrote:

hepcat wrote:I hope they add Witcher 3 level DLC to this game in the future. I'd love new lands and new stories.

They've already said that they're working on story DLC, so it's looking promising.

The Sylens Chronicles
or
The Wronging of Rost

coopasonic wrote:...and as TiLT mentioned earlier, some of those machine weapons you can pick up and use against the machines. The highest level training ground pushes this strategy if you hadn't figured it out by then.

I haven't had that happen yet, but I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Finally finished my last Cauldron by having Aloy override my difficulty setting which it turns out was set to hard. I took extra pride in having gone through almost all of the game at that difficulty! Needless to say, easy setting made quick work of that Thunderjaw and after finishing that battle I set the difficulty at the more sensible "normal" level. Aloy doesn't need to prove anything to anyone!

Random thoughts:

I like that I've used all the weapons and almost all arrow types in this game. The developers did a good job in having all the things in your arsenal be useful for a variety of situations. When I finally acquired the bow that could use corruption arrows I enjoyed sniping at packs at a safe distance and watching the chaos ensue. Tearblaster arrows not only do a great job of stripping components but make the best sound too when they go off.

There have been a bunch of times when I've been hiding in the tall grass and all of the sudden some robotic beast just dashes past me or pops up behind me. Now that I have a great stealth outfit and had invested points in the stealth skill such instances have become less fatal and more "oh shit that was close!" I don't think this is very cheap at all but it kind of reminds you that it's a tough world out there and you always have to be aware of your surroundings. Rost would probably say "That toy on your head is no substitute for your eyes, Aloy!"

There's a late game quest, Deep Secrets of the Earth. There are save checkpoints that you can't interact with but are strategically placed. If you want to finish it all in one go though make sure you don't have any plans for a while because it's a long one. With all the information about the world in that quest it kind of hooks you into the long haul and you end up playing till quite a bit after midnight...There is a certain someone before you start who tells you that if you have unfinished business it's best to get it done before going on the quest, probably because once you're in it you can only go forward (can't jump in and out of the quest) till it's done. Aloy in her charming way tells that someone to piss off (doesn't use the words piss off but she sasses him right back). I love how she doesn't put up with people's shit.

And a hint for something you should do in the game:

Pay a visit to your old home in the game. At least once when you leave the Embrace for the first time and roam around the world for a bit and again near the end. On the map there will be a marker next to the campfire at your old home. It will be a little hard to see on the map because it blends in a little with the snowy background. You should stop by...

Dang... my finally shipped Collector's Edition Strategy Guide for HZD showed up on my doorstep this fine Sunday morning and good lord is it a beast. Not sure I've got one that's bigger and I have quite the soft spot for guides like this so have quite a few. 655 pages, a very nice large map and almost five and a half pounds worth of paper and ink.

Been futzing around, not really running down the main Seeker quest path quite yet, exploring and collecting. However, just made it to Mother's Crown last night and now have a new plethora of new side quests (including the first mention of a 'Cauldron') that I can undertake as well as the dreaded 'clear out the corrupted zones' part of the main. Good thing "I'm pretty good with a bow" if she does say so herself.

$iljanus wrote:There's a late game quest, Deep Secrets of the Earth. There are save checkpoints that you can't interact with but are strategically placed. If you want to finish it all in one go though make sure you don't have any plans for a while because it's a long one. With all the information about the world in that quest it kind of hooks you into the long haul and you end up playing till quite a bit after midnight...There is a certain someone before you start who tells you that if you have unfinished business it's best to get it done before going on the quest, probably because once you're in it you can only go forward (can't jump in and out of the quest) till it's done. Aloy in her charming way tells that someone to piss off (doesn't use the words piss off but she sasses him right back). I love how she doesn't put up with people's shit.

I'm just about ready to start this one. It's unlocked, but I have a couple side-quests I want to wrap up first. If that Brin asshole tells me to kill one more monster...

I'm around 74% complete according to the Progression notebook, which surprised me a bit since I really haven't focused on doing any one thing since I started. However, I guess all those side quests and collectibles add up after awhile.

I just hit Level 45 and have been trying to knock out the last of the collectibles since I'm really close. I wrapped up all the corrupted zones today and only need to ace one more hunting ground.

I have a feeling much of my late game is going to be working through Cauldrons, as they've been the one aspect of the game I've been avoiding for the most part.

Died in my first Cauldron so get to run that again. Need to figure out the whole "maybe I can hitch a ride on those flying things" thing.

Had a very productive HZD weekend. Cleared all the bandit camps, climbed all the Tallnecks, got the achievement for both cataloging and destroying all machines after taking down both a Stormbird and a Thunderjaw, finished the seemingly neverending "Acquired Taste" questline, and wrapped up the "Deep Secrets of the Earth" main story quest. Which means I now know what "Zero Dawn" means...holy shit.

Although it look a long time to complete (a little over 2 hours), that was one of the most interesting and thrilling story sequences I've seen in years. So, so good. Anyone who says this game has a weak story (a consensus I saw repeated often in reviews) is completely nuts. This story is fascinating, and remarkably well told.

I think I'm getting close to the story homestretch now. 33 hours in, just hit level 37, and all the story events seem to be coming to a head. Can't wait to see how it ends. I still haven't messed with any of the hunts and have only done one Cauldron. I find that I don't particularly enjoy either of those activities.

Aren't the Cauldrons where you get the "overrides" you need for the various machines?

MonkeyFinger wrote:Aren't the Cauldrons where you get the "overrides" you need for the various machines?

Yep. I haven't needed that feature playing on Easy (I suck at these sort of games), but imagine it would be a near-necessity at higher difficulty levels.

MonkeyFinger wrote:Aren't the Cauldrons where you get the "overrides" you need for the various machines?

Yes. Saving them for last is kind of backwards.

Honestly, for non corrupted beasts, I've found corruption arrows to be better than trying to get close enough to the tougher ones for overrides.

I entered the final area last night, hoping to wrap this one up tonight. Which is good, since Persona 5 comes out today.

Seriously though, my kingdom for a goddamn racoon. I found the stats page last night, and despite actively looking for one for the last 2/3 of the game, it says I've only killed 3 in my nearly 40 hours of playtime. None of which gave me the rare resource I needed for inventory expansion. I simply cannot find these damn things anywhere.

I assume you are looking for a raccoon skin, yes? If so, I've seen a couple of bits of advice. One being some people have had some measure of luck with the area "somewhere close to the Two-Teeth Bandit site", in spite of the drops being random. I've also seen people saying you have a better chance at a skin if you use a melee attack. [shrug]

Good luck!